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Review: Doctor Who Wave One Bundle (PS Home)

I’m not what one would call an avid fan of PlayStation Home. I’ve been aware of it for about half a decade, and I had a few opportunities to experience it shortly after its launch, but it’s not something that ever hooked me. I had used PC based avatar chat rooms in the past (the mid 90s), and I had been a hardcore IRC user since the early 90s, but much to Home’s detriment, I had met my future wife at the end of 2007, and my online chatting presence fell by the wayside. It may seem like I’m rambling, but I’m simply providing a bit of context: I don’t use Home not because I have no interest in the technology, but because maintaining an online chat presence required a time investment than I was simply no longer interested in providing.

Fast-forward to 2013, and PlayStation Home has come a long way since its first fledgling footsteps. The experience I had in its early days is nothing like the experience of today. The graphics, physics, and general functionality have all improved significantly, and an entire marketplace has developed around the PlayStation Home environment, providing character skins, virtual areas, games, and more. One of the more prominent PlayStation Home developers, LOOT Entertainment, has recently released a Doctor Who based set of objects, in collaboration with BBC Worldwide and Sony DADC. The set includes:

The Eleventh Doctor Costume

The Eleventh Doctor’s Sonic Screwdriver

Silent Costume

River Song’s PDA

River Song Costume

Silurian Costume (with mask)

Cybermat Companion

BBC Active Light

BBC Active Camera

TARDIS

TARDIS Clubhouse

With the Eleventh Doctor and River Song costumes, you get a full replica of each costume, without the facial likeness of the character (allowing your own character to take the place of the Doctor and River Song). The Silent and Silurian are both full outfits with masks, creating exact (and highly detailed) replicas of each character type. The Cybermat companion follows you around, while the BBC Active Light and BBC Active Camera can be set up to provide shot angles and background lighting for your favorite scenes within the TARDIS. Which, of course, brings us to the TARDIS.

There are two TARDIS units included in the bundle: a personal space and a clubhouse. For those unfamiliar with PlayStation Home, the two are identically designed: they are the same size, layout, etc. The primary difference is in their distinctly different purposes. A private space is like your apartment or home: you decorate it for comfort, and enjoy its amenities. If you like, you can invite up to 11 of your friends to party simultaneously, but they’re only there while you’re there. A clubhouse is identical but for the ability to be constantly available, with or without your presence, to up to 32 people that you provide open access to. The “Basic Club” is required to serve as the foundation for clubhouse functionality, at $5.99.

So now you know what the bundle includes, and what everything is. The question now must be, “Is it good?”

Yes, but it is also niche.

The Doctor Who Wave One bundle does a lot of things for a lot of people:

Fans of PlayStation Home get new content and one of the (if not THE) largest spaces available on the entire PlayStation Home marketplace: the TARDIS.

Fans of Doctor Who get a chance to dress up as the Eleventh Doctor, River Song, and more, with the ability to record machinima adventures using the Active Light and Camera within the TARDIS space: essentially, create your own Doctor Who adventure and record it.

Fans of PlayStation Home AND Doctor Who get to have a nerdgasm.

I may not spend a lot of time chatting online anymore (save for Twitter, which has filled the social gap), but I never stopped being a geek. I plan on having some fun with the Active Light and Camera, putting my Doctor into some strange and surreal situations for my personal amusement. I also may find myself lounging about PlayStation Home a bit more (granted, a bit more than “never” may not be much, but it’s still more than “never”), partaking in the service’s expansive library of content.

The quality of the recreations (the costumes and the TARDIS) is stunning. It is obvious that some very talented individuals put a lot of time and effort into accurately recreating Doctor Who staples within the PlayStation Home framework. The bundle price of $14.99 also saves you over $10 when compared to the individual prices of each item (totaling $25.92). Overall, for PlayStation Home fans and for fans of Doctor Who, this is a fantastic collection of items to play around with.

[learn_more caption=”Review Results”][one_half]Pros:

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Highly detailed costume and space recreations

TARDIS size is immense

Ability to record your own Doctor Who adventures is wonderful for storytellers

Attractively priced bundle[/custom_list][/one_half]

[one_half_last]Cons:

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Very niche

It’s easy to get lost in the TARDIS

[/custom_list][/one_half_last]

Final Word:

FANTASTIC

We have four Doctor Who Wave One bundle codes to give out, courtesy of LOOT Entertainment. The giveaway starts now, and will run through the end of Thursday, April 18th. Make sure to get your name in, and remember that you can tweet once per day for extra entries!a Rafflecopter giveaway